


Matelotage

by orphan_account



Category: One Piece
Genre: Aftercare, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Developing Relationship, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Not Beta Read, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:26:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23040937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Is everything okay, sir?” The woman murmured.“I apologize,” Crocodile huffed, faking a smile just barely lifting the right corner of his lips, “it looks like my companion has arrived.”Of course, there was not a companion he was waiting for. The ship was hidden in a rocky bay, southwest and kilometers away from there. His crewmembers were having fun, somewhere. Daz was taking care of the finances, providing a new stock for the next voyage.
Relationships: Crocodile/Monkey D. Luffy
Comments: 16
Kudos: 117





	1. Prologue

**_Matelotage_ **

**_1\. Prologue_ **

* * *

Crocodile would never have imagined it’d be possible to find that brat right there.

At first, in the soft glimmer of the reddish lights and the noises, Crocodile had not paid any attention to the shrill, childish voice coming from one of the tables behind him. On the contrary, he had continued to enjoy the presence of that splendid stripper sitting on his legs, wearing little more than a skimpy bikini, who continued to pour wine into his glass, asking him to share with her some of his knowledge, some stories about his adventures – not that Crocodile had ever lived many of those, besides, he’s always been a man who appreciated comfort the most. However, after what seemed to be thirty minutes, he was already tired of the girl perched on his lap, and only at that moment he paid more attention to the strange and hissed laughter not far from him. But, even then, he shrugged away that intrusive sensation – _that_ person couldn’t be there, it was certainly alcohol making fun of him.

He was trying his best to focus on that woman - whose name he had already forgotten long ago -, keeping his eyes on her breasts, on the slender waist perfectly enclosed in the curve of his golden hook, the sweet scent and the lips that seemed to be getting closer to his face. Really, he was trying! But he failed, hopelessly.

"Wow, you drink almost as much as Zoro, shishishi!"

Unfortunately, Crocodile heard it perfectly, unable to find an excuse and, by now the stripper could also say goodbye to that little bit of attention that the pirate had deigned her of until a moment before. At that moment, the woman was comparable to unnecessary weight and nothing more, devoid of any attraction that she could show off before the arrival of the young captain. Crocodile was really tempted to oust her badly, but she was a service for which he had paid, and he’d hate to waste his money out of a trivial impulse.

How long had it been since he had last seen Straw Hat? Two years, almost three, if he was recalling their last encounter correctly, the day of the death of Fire Fist and the old man, he told himself, fighting the strange desire to turn around and understand what the hell a boy like him was doing there. Crocodile didn’t like to make assumptions, but Monkey D. Luffy had never seemed interested in sex or even in the substances that ran in those places.

Judging from what he could hear, the young captain had to be there alone, on his own: his voice was the one and only that he could recognize - not that he would ever bother to recall exactly those of the rest of the crew, but he was pretty sure that if Nico Robin had been there, he would have noticed.

"You should stop comparing me to other men," protested a man, "it’s not very polite of you.”

Crocodile grinned. That is, politeness was not one of the traits the young man was known for. Nevertheless, this was not an answer to his previous question: why Luffy was in such a place with someone Crocodile presumed to be a stranger, nonetheless? Meanwhile, the woman was going on with her absurd requests: she wanted to see his ship, to meet his crew – she was noisy, with a horrible pitchy voice. Though, truth be told, Crocodile was only trying to find a reason to get rid of her, as soon as possible.

“You’re drinking too much,” said the young captain to the other man.

“I need it if I want to keep it up with you all night” the other retorted, and yet, Crocodile was wondering if he had heard correctly, staring blankly at the woman in front of him. Was she still talking? He had no idea – he couldn’t care less, at that point.

“Are we going to fight?”

Oh, good Lord – was he that dense? Crocodile couldn’t think anything more cockblocking than that. That or Luffy thought that sex was like fighting an enemy, which wasn’t good either, but this assumption made him wonder if the young captain would be as fierce as he was on the battlefield. Biting, kicking and doing his best to not be subdued. That was appealing, for a start.

How would it be, Crocodile mused, to teach him something more about those adults’ pleasure? Luffy was 19, wasn’t he? Legal age and all, he thought, there wouldn’t be any problem – or was there? Crocodile grimaced. He wasn’t quite sure why worrying about that matter. Luffy wasn’t even his type – definitely, not someone he’d like to have an affair with.

“First, I need you to drink something, boy,” resumed the man.

Crocodile quirked an eyebrow.

“Oh? What’s that?”

“It’s something that’ll make you good and ready for our _fight_ ,” the man explained.

Crocodile frowned, not caring, even in the slightest, about the woman on his lap and her questioning look. It wasn’t very kind of him to focus his attention on the boy behind him instead of indulging in her company, but he was a pirate. He didn’t need to show any kindness at all.

“Is everything okay, sir?” The woman murmured.

“I apologize,” Crocodile huffed, faking a smile just barely lifting the right corner of his lips, “it looks like my companion has arrived.”

Of course, there was not a companion he was waiting for. The ship was hidden in a rocky bay, southwest and kilometers away from there. His crewmembers were having fun, somewhere. Daz was taking care of the finances, providing a new stock for the next voyage.

That is, Crocodile was on his own.

He pushed away the young woman and stood. He wasn’t sure why he was going to do it, but he enjoyed the thought of taking Strawhat away from that man.

He didn’t need to make an important entry, though. As long as he made his way towards the table, the young boy lifted his head to look at him. He was different, Crocodile noticed. He was wearing a red shirt, his usual trousers, a black hat hiding his signature one and something, which Crocodile presumed to be makeup, was covering the scar on his cheek.

Was he hiding from someone?

“Croco-boy!” Beamed Luffy, grinning, “long time no see!”

“I’m aware,” he said without deigning of a single glance the man at Luffy’s side.

“Why are you here? And the bald guy? What have you done in those years?” He asked.

Crocodile chuckled, “that’s a lot of questions. It’d be better to discuss those matters at dinner; don’t you think?”

It was simple. Food was always the right answer when Luffy was involved. Crocodile recalled it perfectly.

Luffy nodded eagerly, “do you know any good place here? I’m starving!” He asked, with no bother to excuse himself as he was leaving the stranger at his table alone to follow Crocodile. Poor soul thought to have a say in Luffy decision and tried to stop him, reaching out for him.

Too bad Crocodile good hand was faster than him, putting him on an alt with a single touch.


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this very short chapter, but I had a bad week with quarantine and all, but I hope you enjoy it and support me through this little adventure!

“Where you aware of that man’s intent?”

They were walking side by side, following the path sketched by the little street heading towards the countryside. The night was still young and peaceful, and Crocodile was positive they would find a nice place where to eat soon. Most likely, it would be on board of the _Sunset_ , because, as far as he was concerned, that side of the island was too poor for someone like him.

At his side, Luffy was staring in front of them, gazing at the stores, the little restaurants as he pressed his hand onto his empty stomach, “he wanted sex,” he said, with neither shame nor common sense of what saying it aloud could imply. Though, he didn’t care about the few people who gazed at them for a moment and kept walking.

Despite people watching them awkwardly, Crocodile hummed, “and do you know what he wanted you to drink?”

Luffy thought about it for a second, pouting in the process but huffed and shook his head. Of course, he couldn’t know, Crocodile thought, he was too pure to even think about what evil people could do and not do. Too pure and innocent, he thought again, smirking.

“I can’t understand how you made it into the New World,” he wondered aloud, keeping his cigar between his teeth as he spoke as ashes fall on the ground. “He wanted to drug you,” he explained, “he wanted to use your body as an object.”

“Isn’t it the same thing you wanted from that woman?” Luffy asked, annoyed by that unexpected scold. He surprised the other man who thought for a moment about how he would reply to that assumption, and Crocodile didn’t like assumptions at all – they could be true, and this could be a problem when you didn’t want to share your needs with others. What could Luffy possibly know about a man’s need? Nothing, nothing at all.

But he thought about it way too much, thus Luffy took his chance to open his mouth again, smiling, “you’re so mean! You left her alone and now you’re acting like the good guy! Do you want me to say ‘ _thank you_ ’?”

Crocodile took the cigar from his mouth, and laughed, slowly, “as if you’re any better than me. We are pirates – for this society, a good pirate is a dead one.”

Luffy bit his lower lip, considering that statement, “yeah, okay, fair enough – why do you want to eat with me, then?”

“To celebrate, I suppose,” the man said, breathing out thick clouds of smoke. That is, they would celebrate if all the places surrounding them were not so ugly – he had standards, after all.

The young boy blinked, watching him sideways, “celebrate? What? You suppose? And why are you alone?”

“Can you just do one question at the time?” Crocodile grunted, stopping the boy’s curiosity, even if it would be just for a moment.

As a reply, Luffy groaned, “you’re such a jerk,” he said, earning a low chuckle from the older man, which made him shiver – or was it just Crocodile’s impression?

“Yes, I’m aware,” admitted Crocodile as he was inspecting the surrounding – there were only taverns and dirty hideouts filled with scums of every kind. Definitely, he wouldn’t eat anything cooked in those places. He didn’t want to eat something made by filthy and disgusting cooks.

“Say,” he resumed, turning his cigar into sand as he licked his lips in a slow motion, “would you mind coming to my ship? We can eat there more comfortably – I don’t want to waste my money here.”

Suddenly, Luffy stopped and turned abruptly to look back at him, eyes wide open and a blinding smile on his round face, which made his cheeks stand out even more than usual. He was as bright as the Loadstar, it reminded Crocodile of his many nights he had spent sailing back from the New World after his fight with Whitebeard – many nights spent alone, without his old crew, trying to come back home, in a safe place.

Someone once told him, that if he got lost, one day, he’d just need to look for that one star– now it seemed he had found a new one, and it was just in front of him.

“Do you have a ship? And a crew?” He beamed, eagerly.

“Yes and yes,” Crocodile assured, “we can celebrate there.”

Luffy grinned, “what is there to celebrate anyway? I didn’t think you were the kind of guy who liked parties!”

The other man didn’t reply right away, instead, he stared at his rings, moving his fingers as the stones glimmered. Only then, he grinned and reached out for Luffy’s cheek with his hook, scratching away the hideous makeup from his scar. The boy didn’t jolt. Crocodile smiled.

“It’s not every day that I can meet someone who fought Kaido and came back alive,” he explained but didn’t move, not yet.

“And why would I trust you?” Asked the boy as the tip of the hook scratched his scar, his grin turned into a more serious expression.

“Why did you trust that man back then?” Crocodile retorted, moving his hook to enclose Luffy’s neck with it. The boy trembled when the cold surface surrounded his skin, but his expression didn’t change at all.

“We joined a party. But I got lost trying to catch a strange animal…” he said, “I just wanted company.”

“So do I,” Crocodile replied, “and you look so much more interesting than that woman,” he cooed.

Luffy quirked an eyebrow, “did you get lost too?”

Oh, good Lord, could he be denser than this? Crocodile wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer or not, and he lifted his eyes to the sky, grimacing.

“What now?” The boy screeched, frowning, “what’s with that face?”

Suddenly, the man chortled, taking back his hook to resume their walk –even wanting to explain it to that brat, he was sure he wouldn’t understand. But the boy didn’t follow and stood there, forcing Crocodile to sigh heavily and turn back.

“Are you coming?”

Luffy looked behind him for a moment, staring back at the lights of the city, probably questioning this situation but something must have clicked into his mind, because his eyes were back on Crocodile.

And he was smiling again, dazzling as ever.

*


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if these chapters are very short, but I'm using this fic as a way to relax and chill, but, who knows, maybe a longer chapter is coming.

If someone had ever told him that he could have had Monkey D Luffy all for himself, there, content and with his guard down, on his bed, Crocodile would have laughed at them. But there they were, in the Captain’s room of the former Warlord of the Sea.

Sat on his chair, close to the desk, Crocodile was staring at the younger captain, curiosity ruling into his mind as he studied the fellow pirate: the boy laid down onto his right side, yawning every now and then as his rumbling went on and on. He was explaining how he and his allies, Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kid, had managed to escape from Wano, but he was tired, and each sentence was getting incomprehensible. But Crocodile tried to translate those slurred words into logical thoughts, imagining Luffy with his red kimono – red was nice on him, he thought.

The older man didn’t even know how they ended up there – the last thing he recalled was their fast dinner (thanks to the leftovers of his cook) and then, Luffy was jumping on his bed, taking all the space for himself.

At first, Crocodile found it quite amusing, to be honest, but then he frowned at the thought of having someone as powerful as Luffy there, right on his bed – that brat, so young and strong, had managed to conquer everything Crocodile hadn’t. It made him mad – it made him recall things he wished to erase from his memory.

At Luffy’s same age, Crocodile got his very first scar, the one on his face, and how did he, someone would ask. Well, at that time, he found himself on the bed of a pirate, a captain, but once he got useless, the pirate decided to get rid of him, disfiguring him.

And now, Luffy was doing the same: laying there, incautiously, completely at Crocodile’s disposal.

“You’re not supposed to be there,” Crocodile murmured.

And Luffy stared back at him, resting his head onto his arm, eyelids growing heavier, “do you want me to go away?”

“Do you want to stay here?” The ‘with me’ stayed unsaid.

The boy shifted slightly, nodding. And Crocodile stood up, slowly, walking towards the bed, “aren’t you afraid?” He asked, swinging his hook from left to right as if he wanted to test the guy, who tried to follow the sudden movement with his eyes, failing and closing them.

“Of who?” The guy retorted.

“Of me.”

Luffy yawned but then smiled, “you won’t harm me and I wanted to be here.”

The bed creaked under Crocodile’s weight, “But why?”

Another yawn, and Luffy reached out for the pillow to hug it, and Crocodile felt disappointed, just a little. Then the boy opened his eyes again, just enough for him to see the blurred figure of the older captain, “because you looked so lonely out there.”


	4. Weird

“Oh! You’re the bald-guy!”

Going outside that morning, Crocodile had hoped to not find his crew on the deck yet, but there he was, his first mate, Daz Bones, staring back at them with a raised eyebrow.

“Good morning, Straw-Hat,” said the man as he welcomed the younger captain – he didn’t seem to be surprised. That is, not that Daz was a man used to show his emotions.

Crocodile advanced behind the happy boy, “Good morning, Mr. Bones.”

“Wow, you two are just like Robin,” Luffy chuckled, swinging on his heels, “she always greets everyone first thing in the morning.”

“It’s what people call ‘politeness’,” Crocodile retorted, before hiding a yawn with his hand – he had barely slept that night, instead he had decided to stare at his odd new roommate all night, unable to look away from him.

“Politeness is boring!” The boy pouted.

“But it’s what you need if you want to succeed in life,” that is, politeness always allowed him to get an easy win. He could still remember the old days, back at Alabasta and way he had monopolized an entire kingdom just with kind manners, sweet words and the so-called boring ‘politeness’.

“That or you can just create your way punching through life,” the boy said, shrugging and --- wait! Was that the hint of a smile on Daz’s face? Better not to investigate any further…

“Well, yes, do as you please but now it’s time for you to come back to your crew,” and he couldn’t say which was the feeling growing into his heart, but Crocodile clearly felt a strange melancholy already. Luffy was leaving him and, perhaps, there wouldn’t be any new chance to meet. Not so soon, at least.

“Oh! Yes! We are going on an island not far away from here,” the boy squeaked, running towards the seashore to then jump on it from the ship, “are you coming too, Croco-boy?”

Crocodile frowned, “why would I?”

“Because there will be a treasure hunt”, he replayed, keeping his hat in place with both hands on it, “you’re a pirate, aren’t you?”

But before he could reply, Straw-Hat was gone, running across the shore and disappearing over the beach. Crocodile couldn’t understand – was this his way to say that he wanted to see him again?

“I think it’s a checkmate, boss,” Daz intervened, “and I think the others would enjoy a little challenge.”

A smile, “yes, Mr. Bones, I think they would.”

∞

“Where were you?” Nami demanded, placing her hands on her hips as she walked towards him in the kitchen. Of course, she was worried, Luffy could understand that much, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell her the truth, not now, at least. It wanted it to be a surprise! Meanwhile, Robin approached him, taking a seat near him with a book.

“I found an ally for the treasure hunt!” He said, spatting food all over the table – luckily, Sanji was not there to scold him, at the moment.

Nami quirked an eyebrow, her expression softened a little, though, “are they strong? Can we trust them? Won’t they steal the treasure from us?”

“They won’t,” Robin replied, suddenly, and Luffy turned just enough to stare at her with wide eyes. He gulped loudly as she smiled a little bit, “he won’t.”

“Wait – he? – Robin, do you know the mysterious partner?” Nami seemed to relax even more – if Robin knew him, this wouldn’t create any problem, would it? The problem was, how did she know who the stranger was?

Luffy blinked – how? He’d have noticed Robin presence last night…

“Yeah – I know him personally – he is strong,” she conceded, opening her book where the purple bookmark was, with a smug smile on her face, “I’m sure he’s not interested in the treasure at all. He just has a – soft spot for our captain.”

“It’s true!” Luffy beamed, stretching his arm to reach a piece of meat on the counter, “he is a pirate! And he is strong! Even stronger than Torao!”

If Robin was saying all those good things about Crocodile, Luffy thought, that meant she didn’t see him as a menace. That is, if she really knew that the mysterious partner was Crocodile. She could be just – assuming, couldn’t she?

“Stronger than Torao?” Nami repeated, widening her eyes like a reindeer caught by the lights of a hunter, “where did you meet him? And how come only Robin knows about him? Last night she wasn’t with you,” she recalled, tapping her chin with her finger, “and the only man we saw was…”

Then, she stopped, mouth dropping open, “Daz Bones,” she murmured.

“First-mate of Sir Crocodile,” Robin suggested, followed by a low chuckle as she flipped the page, “looks like our captain got a jackpot.”

“He didn’t harm me,” he assured before starting to chew his roasted piece of meat, “he showed me his ship – his cabin looks like an office! That guy works all the time!”

“Wait! Hold on!” suddenly, Nami fell on the seat next to him, grabbing his arm, “why do you know how his cabin is …?”

Oh --- that --- “I kept him company,” he said, feeling his throat suddenly sore, “I slept on his bed,” where was water? Juice would be fine too… where was it? He couldn’t see either of those around – bottles of booze were scattered on the counter, but those were for Zoro for sure.

“You mean,” turning to face Nami, he saw her gesturing with her hands, “sleep as sleep, sleep, or,” then she proceeded to create a circle with her thumb and middle finger to then insert the middle of the other hand into it, “you know…”

Luffy pouted, “what’s that?”

Sighing, Robin decided to explain, “I think she is trying to ask you if you two just slept together or if you had sex with him.”

“Oh, that!” Come to think about it, Luffy recalled that Crocodile had wanted to, but instead of asking him to, the older pirate had refused to; he shrugged it off, “Nah, he worked all night. I fell asleep when he was working, and I woke up when he was still at his desk.”

Nami seemed relieved and sighed, “probably, you just bothered him with your silly questions, and he decided to be kind and lent you his bed for the night.”

But Luffy shook his head, finally finding a bottle of juice between those of booze and grabbed it with his hand from across the room, “he wanted to, and I said I was fine with it but I was so sleepy. As I said, he worked all night and I slept all night. Nothing more, nothing less.”

He couldn’t say that he had felt a bit disappointed by himself for not being able to keep Crocodile company all night, but he hadn’t expected him to let him sleep on his bed for real…

“What a gentleman,” Robin said sarcastically.

“Weird…” Nami commented.

Yeah, Crocodile was very weird…


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Stampede, a certain Surgeon becomes overprotective. Too bad he has no ally supporting him as he tries to talk with Luffy about a certain Croco-guy.

5.

After destroying the treasure of the Stampede and his clash with Douglas, Luffy heard from Robin that Crocodile hadn’t followed them along the path created by Sabo with his flames. No big fancy ship behind them, no Crocodile.

“He was the one who told us what to do,” she explained – after their flee, Chopper had decided to do a brief check up on Luffy, helped by Torao, who now was in the infirmary with them. Even though the doctor was pretending to not pay any attention to their little conversation, Luffy was sure he was listening very carefully.

“Croco-guy is smart!” Luffy beamed, sitting comfortably on the little bed, but Robin shook her head, smiling tenderly and taking the place at his side, checking for other bruises.

“He knew how to counter Bullet because they were rivals, once – from what I’ve heard, it’s ended in a draw.”

Brightening up his smile even more, Luffy straightened his back, “Wait! What? Really?” That meant that Crocodile was really strong, wasn’t he? Now, Luffy couldn’t help but stare at Robin with wide eyes full of excitement.

Meanwhile, Law snorted.

“Yes, but I don’t know how that happened – at that time, Crocodile wasn’t even a pirate yet,” Robin explained as she helped Luffy lifting his left arm to take care of the bandages too tight for him. Though, Torao decided to step in, occupying the little place left at the corner of the bad.

“In my opinion, this is not the strangest thing,” Law offered, fastening the bandages just enough.

“What do you mean? What’s strange?” Luffy asked, observing as his ally tried to find a comfortable position.

“You didn’t seem too surprised to see him there,” Law admitted, “not to mention that you were ready to jump back on every ship following us to see where Crocodile was.”

“Oh, my,” Robin chuckled, slapping his hand away from her captain, gently, to take care of the rest on her own, “is Mr. Trafalgar Law jealous?”

Suddenly. Law stared blankly at her, and Luffy’s eyes started doing back and forth from the two of them, “what?”

“You see, you don’t seem to enjoy this conversation,” she stated, tapping with her forefinger against her lips. But Luffy wasn’t understanding what she was trying to say: Torao jealous? Pff – as if!

Law grunted, “If anything, I’m worried about our plans. Luffy is an easy target when it comes to trust other people.”

“Hey! That’s not true!” Okay, now --- what was Torao saying? He wasn’t an easy target at all!

“Even if he was,” Robin resumed, smile turning into a strange grin, “what’s your point?”

And at that, Luffy pouted, “yes, what’s your point?”

“He was a Warlord…” Law tried.

“So were you,” Luffy retorted.

“He’s a murderer,” Law added.

“ … said the Surgeon of Death,” Robin noted, earning an angry glare from the surgeon.

“You’re just being weird, Torao…”

“I’m not,” Law huffed, pinching at his forehead and closing his eyes, “it’s just --- he helped us, sure, but I don’t trust him.”

“If you put it that way,” Luffy reasoned, supporting his chin with his free hand, “I am not supposed to trust you either…”

Snickering, Robin covered her mouth, “oh, my – isn’t it too much, captain?”

“That’s not what I meant, Mugiwara-ya!” Law barked, suddenly, pinching the bridge of his nose, tighter, “you have no proof you can trust him. This time, he helped us because he wanted to steal the treasure from your hands, not because he cared!”

For a moment, Luffy blinked, and before even considering what to say a little admission slipped from between his lips, naïvely, “I slept with him and I’m still alive, right?”

Silence. Well, not entirely – Robin was pressing her hand against her mouth, preventing any sound from coming out; she seemed as if she was enjoying their little conversation. Meanwhile, Law lifted his head, slowly, very slowly, looking for Luffy’s eyes and forgetting, entirely, about Robin's presence.

“When?” he asked, finally, squinting his eyes as he tried to understand if Luffy’s was lying or not. In fact, Luffy could recognize very well that inquiring look, as if the surgeon wanted to read him like one of those boring books.

“When we got back from Wano,” Luffy replied – now, he had nothing to hide – it wasn’t as if it would matter to Law, right?

Torao hummed in acknowledgment, “and what does your ‘sleep’ mean?”

Snorting, Luffy rolled his eyes, “this again? Robin and Nami wanted to know the same thing! Why does it matter?”

“Just answer my question, Mugiwara-ya,” his voice got steadier, flat and at that moment, Luffy considered the idea of lying, just out of spite, just to see Law’s reaction, but it wouldn’t be like him at all. Even considering the absurdity of that interrogation, Luffy didn’t want to lie.

Luffy wanted to be someone his friends could trust, too.

Huffing, he pouted, “just sleep,” he admitted, “I’m not even sure he slept with me, by the way.”

Torao frowned, “you slept with him or not?”

Puffing his cheeks, Luffy twisted his lips, thinking, “I slept in his cabin, but he worked all night.”

Law looked past Luffy, perhaps, studying Robin, who nodded.

Then, he breathed in and out, “okay.”

“Okay?” Luffy repeated, marking his pout and scowling, “just, okay?!”

Law said nothing, causing Robin to chortle again, “oh, my! Captain, I think Torao-san is just worried for your own wellbeing.”

As a response, the surgeon shrugged, “he was Doflamingo’s partner, once,” he confessed, “I’m just afraid he’d try to avenge him,” mmh, Luffy doubted it. Crocodile was not that kind of man, not anymore at least…

“Besides,” he resumed, standing up to stretch his arms, “it’s not like you’ll see him again anytime soon.”

Oh – yeah – that was --- mmh --- that was true. Luffy had no idea how to meet with Crocodile again, which was, indeed, very, very disappointing…

Until Robin snapped her fingers, getting Luffy’s attention back, “but what if we can find him?”

And while Law’s content smile dropped at that proposition, Luffy’s face brightened up, as if it was the best news he could get. Standing up on the bed, he jumped a few times before coming back on the mattress on his knees, “how?!”

Robin smiled, “let’s say, I was sure you’d have wanted to meet him again,” she cooed, glancing at Law for a moment, turning her smile into a smirk, “and I happened to have a lovely reunion with Mr. Bones.”

**Author's Note:**

> A little request from Twitter.-  
> I apologize if there will be some mistakes, but English is not my first language, so...
> 
> I hope you'll follow me on this "adventure".


End file.
